Creator of Yoon-Suin and other materials. Propounding my half-baked ideas on role playing games. Jotting down and elaborating on ideas for campaigns, missions and adventures. Talking about general industry-related matters. Putting a new twist on gaming.

Friday, 3 January 2014

Cthulhu Works With Everything

I've often thought that, if you wanted incontrovertible proof that the Cthulhu mythos is true, it's that you can put it into any setting and it will instantly improve it.

Way back at the start of this blog, in 2008 (it seems like only yesterday, but it is getting on for six bloody years ago), I was talking about OzCthulhu, my idea for a setting inspired by Aboriginal Australians with a heavy dose of the Cthulhu mythos on top. One of the commenters on that early entry postulated the idea of a setting mixing L. Frank Baum's Oz with the Cthulhu mythos, which works too. But other options will suggest themselves, because CTHULHU WORKS WITH EVERYTHING. Ancient Greece, but with added Cthulhu mythos. Icelandic sagas, but with added Cthulhu mythos. The Many Coloured-Land, but with added Cthulhu mythos. Star Wars, but with added Cthulhu mythos. The Incan Empire, but with added Cthulhu mythos. A Song of Ice and Fire, but with added Cthulhu mythos. Middle Earth, but with added Cthulhu mythos. The Nazis, but with added Cthulhu mythos. 1920s America, but with added C...no, hang on.

There are some that just get silly. Like My Little Pony or Jane Austen.

There are a few that don't work well. 7th Sea demonstrated by the end of its run that Three Musketeers plus Cthulhu is a mix that no one really wants. Similarly, if you introduced Cthulhu to four-color supers, you either lose the four-color aspects (making the supers too dark and gritty) or the Lovecraftian aspects (making the horrors into, basically, kaiju).

Apparently, according to the World of Ice and Fire, if you head east enough from Westros you start running into places like Carcosa, Lend, Kadath, a city so cursed that the jungle will not grow there, inbred cannibal fishmen, evil toad gods demanding human sacrifice, etc. Plus, there are some mythos references among the Ironborn as well.